Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Recently I wrote about getting re-engaged with efforts to record some music at home. I just wanted to note that two things have put a bit of a damper on moving forward much further. First, I joined a new band, which is terrific, but it has meant that I've had to devote an inordinate amount of time learning the material, and the time has had to come from somewhere. Second, my recording workstation got into a strange state after shutting down improperly and became mired in a Windows Automatic Repair loop that I could not break out of. Ultimately I had to re-install Windows 10 from scratch and reinstall all my applications and restore all my documents and projects (thank God for backups!). I'm midway through getting back to a fully operational state. I've decided to take the opportunity to get a larger secondary hard drive, which I expect to be able to swap in the coming weekend. So hopefully, by the time the weekend ends I will be back in action, and I'll have some new stuff to start posting on SoundCloud soon after.

First off, I'm accompanying a terrific singer, Sharon Lea, on jazz and blues standards like "Misty," "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," "God Bless the Child," "At Last," and many more. The Sharon Lea Duo website will soon be available and there will be a few demo recordings. We made our public debut (not counting doing a couple of songs at an open mic a couple of months ago) on Saturday, March 18 at, oddly enough, a mall clothing store (dressbarn in Campbell) in the mid-afternoon. People seemed to enjoy it and we got many compliments from customers and staff.

Second, I'm now part of an as-yet-unnamed cover band that will be doing R&B-flavored material. Fronted by Scott Goldstone, a terrific keyboard player and vocalist, we'll be doing songs like "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" by the Four Tops, "I Can't Go For That" by Hall & Oates, "I'm So Proud" by Curtis Mayfield & the Impressions, "Home At Last" and "Black Cow" by Steely Dan, and many more. I'm really stoked to be playing with these guys and looking forward to playing out in the near future.